Connecticut’s First Lady Has Written A Children’s Book, ‘Marvelous Max The Mansion Mouse’

HARTFORD (AP) — Connecticut First Lady Patty Rowland took her sons’ experiences in the governor’s mansion and wove them into a tale about a talking mouse who befriends a lonely boy.

That story turned into Marvelous Max the Mansion Mouse, an elaborately illustrated book published by New York-based Norfleet Press that began appearing in stores October 15.

The book’s publication marks the end of more than a year of work for the first-time author, who is also the wife of Gov. John G. Rowland.

“It’s something I’ve had in the back of my mind for a long time,” she said, sitting in the sunroom at the mansion where the story takes place.

 “I really did it as a gift to [my sons]. I know it really hasn’t been easy these last nine years,” said Mrs Rowland, who wants her sons, Ryan and Scott, to know how much she appreciates their patience with living in the political spotlight.

She and her sons, children from a previous marriage, moved in 1995 from their home in Woodbury to the Prospect Street governor’s residence shortly after John Rowland was elected to his first term. She recalled that it was exciting yet difficult for her sons to leave their old home and friends for the official Governor’s Residence.

“They moved up here and didn’t know a soul,” Mrs Rowland said. “It’s a very unique life to kind of move into.”

The mansion isn’t just home to Connecticut’s first family. It has a very public role in state politics, serving as a location for everything from parties to budget negotiations. Protesters upset with the governor’s policies often gather outside.

State police watch over the Rowlands and their teenagers. Along with Patty Rowland’s sons, the governor’s three children from a previous marriage – Kirsten, R.J. and Julianne – spend time at the home.

“Children of politicians are like children of celebrities,” Mrs Rowland said. “They can’t go through the ups and downs of adolescence anonymously.”

In Marvelous Max the Mansion Mouse, a young boy named Tim, whose parents are Mr and Mrs Governor, moves into mansion following the election. He has no friends in the new neighborhood and relies upon of a team of friendly mice to find him a playmate.

The book’s illustrated scenes are taken from the actual Governor’s Residence in Connecticut. Pennsylvania artist Wendy Rasmussen visited Mrs Rowland and the mansion with a photographer, taking pictures of different rooms, the curving staircase and the mansion’s brick exterior.

There are scenes in the book that feature Tiger, the Rowlands’ pet cat. In reality, he was struck and killed by a car outside the mansion, but in the book, he prowls the estate to the chagrin of the wary mice.

The book also includes an appearance by the Rowlands’ Labrador, Colby. However, the family’s big black dog was transformed for printing purposes into a yellow Lab.

Mrs Rowland said she liked Mrs Rasmussen’s realistic style immediately. She selected the illustrator after poring over samples from artists across the country that her publisher had collected.

“I knew what I wanted it to look like,” Mrs Rowland said. “I wanted something soft. I kept coming back to Wendy’s drawings. There was no question.”

Although this is Mrs Rowland’s first book, she had done professional writing before in public relations. She said she got some help for the book from a neighbor who is a children’s book author and from a Waterbury company that publishes children’s materials.

Mrs Rowland is not the only state-level (or even national) first lady to be published. Marcia Lim, director of the National Governors’ Association’s spouses program, said the first ladies of New York, Utah and California are among the few who have written children’s books. A former first lady of Missouri wrote a history of those who lived in that state’s governor’s residence.

The spouses’ program has focused on promoting literacy for several years, Lim said. Any proceeds from Rowland’s new book will benefit the Literacy Volunteers of America.

Mrs Rowland has already received good reviews from another author, former US First Lady Barbara Bush, who sent Mrs Rowland a friendly note after reading Marvelous Max.

Now, Governor Rowland is pushing her to write a sequel.

“My wife is a very good writer,” he said. “She’s really shy, too, so I’m her best promoter. She’s an excellent writer, very creative.”

The governor could also make an appearance at some of his wife’s book-signings around the state.

“He’s in charge of the card table and all the balloons,” she said.